Broad-complex functions in postembryonic development of the cockroach Blattella germanica shed new light on the evolution of insect metamorphosis

Background

Insect metamorphosis proceeds in two modes: hemimetaboly, gradual change along the life cycle; and holometaboly, abrupt change from larvae to adult mediated by a pupal stage. Both are regulated by 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), which promotes molts, and juvenile hormone (JH), which represses adult morphogenesis. Expression of Broad-complex (BR-C) is induced by 20E and modulated by JH. In holometabolous species, like Drosophila melanogaster, BR-C expression is inhibited by JH in young larvae and enhanced in mature larvae, when JH declines and BR-C expression specifies the pupal stage.

Methods

Using Blattella germanica as a basal hemimetabolous model, we determined the patterns of expression of BR-C mRNAs using quantitative RT-PCR, and we studied the functions of BR-C factors using RNA interference approaches.

Results

We found that BR-C expression is enhanced by JH and correlates with JH hemolymph concentration. BR-C factors appear to be involved in cell division and wing pad growth, as well as wing vein patterning.

Conclusions

In B. germanica, expression of BR-C is enhanced by JH, and BR-C factors appear to promote wing growth to reach the right size, form and patterning, which contrast with the endocrine regulation and complex functions observed in holometabolous species.

General significance

Our results shed new light to the evolution from hemimetaboly to holometaboly regarding BR-C, whose regulation and functions were affected by two innovations: 1) a shift in JH action on BR-C expression during young stages, from stimulatory to inhibitory, and 2) an expansion of functions, from regulating wing development, to determining pupal morphogenesis.